Strings of Fate
by Cutie Emo Panda
Summary: AU one-shot series. They would forever be able to live without each other, but would die if ever separated from one another. 3 - Even when the ropes had all been cut, somehow they thought one would be left for them.
1. Strings of Fate

****Yeah, so this is going to be a one-shot series... or more like episodic. It bases its self around this idea of people perfectly fated for each other, but because of the strings of fate, they will never be with one another. Its more of my excuse to experiment and try my hands at different styles of angst writing :P and that SasuHina has been my OTP for a while and I never had a decent story writing for them T.T

**Strings of Fate**

_Through fire and stone their bodies burned with brilliance. The sea was no match for the bitterness of their tears. Sweat and exasperation drove them, till standing before them was perfect. These creatures were beautiful, the Lovers. Molded to complementary beings, things of play and intrigue, the perfection of humanity, in its self was an oxymoron. Humans could not be perfect, and could not surpass their creators. _

_But these, they were closer to perfection than anything else. The Lovers were beautiful. And in their beauty lay the truth in their eyes, they were the source of their own destruction. Living in mundane patters, loops of never ending life. Immortality was not the problem; it was the flow of the world that made them mindful. _

_And the creators were always wary, watching such beauty go to shatters. As they watched their creations wonder, along their paths to each other. Along parallel strings that would soon one day meet, they grew restless. And in that fateful moment, they met, their strings finally seeing its other end. And the creators were uneasy. _

_Flawless, is what they were supposed to be. Yet the creators were beginning to see every flaw within their impossibly untouched innocence. They knew their secrets, their cracks of imperfection. It was sickening watching as they lived along their strings, together. Pure love did not exist, and should never. It made things too easy, too boring. Apart it was bearable, with one another, the Lovers were like thorns of a rose. Too dangerous to be touched. But thorns were just thorns and for a creator, thorns could always be cut. _

"Why do you insist on reading that crap?" Sasuke asked.

She perked her head out from the book and she stared at him with a leveled gaze, though her eyes shined. Placing the book between her feet she giggled and smiled at him. Sitting on her bed was always her favorite spot. "It isn't crap."

"Yes it is," he insisted and returned his attention to the half written essay in front of him. "How many times have you read it now?"

She tilted her head up and searched in her mind some countless number that seemed to just drift by in front of her. "I'm not sure."

"Which just makes it all the more like crap," He bluntly stated.

"Well I think I keep reading it for nostalgia purposes. My mom used to read it to me all the time you know," She said to him sweetly. He didn't want to look at her, how she could smile so easily without hesitation, it makes him weak, and weakness was tragedy waiting for an opening.

"You don't have to tell me, I know already," He told her coldly.

"Right," She squeaked, "Of course you do. I know."

In the background, a slight melody began to play. It was her favorite song, and he wouldn't admit it to her, it was his favorite song too. And especially now, he'd never tell her that he hated it that she had set it for that person's personal ring.

"You should answer that," He said to her, not making eye contact.

"Huh?" She tilted her head at him, and then realized he was talking about her phone. "Oh!" she sounded so helplessly surprised and fumbled with her phone in the front pocket of her jacket. Picking it up, he could hear the faint sound of that person on the other line.

"Ah," She made a sound and that person continued to talk. "Really?" Her eye brows quirked. "Where are you now?" She waited for a response. "Oh, I see, yes, I'll be there."

And a few more words and she hung up. He didn't move, and pretended like he hadn't heard. She shifted on her bed and felt as she walked across her bedroom floor to the door. He showed no signs, but she knew that he was anticipating her leave.

"You can stay here tonight if you want," She told him quietly, "I won't be back till late so if you want you know where the door is."

He didn't move.

"When you're hungry, my parents have some leftovers in the fridge if you want anything."

His pencil moved so smoothly over the blank pages, he was glad that she couldn't see that he was writing nonsense.

"Well," She sighed and placed a hand on her door knob, "I'll see you sometime later."

"Hinata."

She turned around and he was just barely looking at her. She was expectant. He turned away.

"Never mind," he said. And with a wave of a hand, he told her silently to leave. A little disappointed, she shut the door behind herself and left.

Once her front door sounded like it had been locked, he stood up slowly and made his way over to her bedside. Picking up the hardcover book and running his fingers over the little dents and creases the years had dealt it, he cringed. Opening it up carefully to the place she had bookmarked to thoroughly, she read the segment she had even bothered to ever cross out in that bubblegum pink pen. But he could still make out the words if he tried hard enough. It was the only part of the book she never liked.

_It was a simple task really. They would forever follow those strings of fate that would constantly twine, wind, and mix. But they would never meet the ends with each other, though they would be the closest to one another. A simple curse that would serve only for pain and agony of the Lovers, and endless amusement for their creators, there was real cruelty. But through their newly acquired mistakes and errors, they would be their own sense of destruction and suffering. _

_They would forever be able to live without each other but – _

He shut the book forcefully closed and haphazardly tossed it onto her pillow. Her stories were making him weak, _she _was making him weak. And like all weaknesses, it was just a tragedy waiting to happen.

…_but they would die if separated from one another. _

**Fin**

****Well, this is more like an introduction to their series of self destructing loves. Here it's more out of hurtful pride that Sasuke just basically tosses Hinata aside and allows her to leave him for another person.

Did I succeed in angst? Well, please review and tell me what you think ^_^ This will be updated when ever I come up with an idea ;) You can help me brainstorm if you want :D


	2. The Sakura Tree

Finally found inspiration for another one shot for this series xD

**The Sakura Tree**

Even as children they knew that there was something special about them. That spark when their innocent eyes met for the first time was nothing short of unusual. And at first it had scared them to be feeling something so oddly exhilarating and so they kept their distance from each other. That is till the spring came and the Sakura flowers were blooming.

She had been running just a bit too fast and he had chosen that time to be aloof and uncaring. A collision that was nothing less than an overly dramatic and romantic cliché. But as young eight year olds, clichés did not take the place of processing the pain of scraped elbows and throbbing heads. Of course there was a cry and a short yelp from the small pale eyed girl while the dark haired boy just hissed.

As much as he had wanted to yell at her and tell her to watch where she was running, one moment when looking into her eyes did he remember his mother's strong words on treating girls with respect. Not to mention that this one was already on the verge of tears. Just the prospect or indication that he would make a sound seemed like it would cause her to wail out in annoyingly high pitched screams and sobs. So he kept his mouth shut and tried to see through his dizzied vision.

"Ano," The girl choked, "Are you alright Uchiha-san?"

Was he alright? That was a rather odd question for her to ask considering the both of them had just collided heads. But she was adamant on knowing the answer because she repeated the question, just a bit louder. Her fingers twitched together and she looked up shyly through her bangs. Uchiha Sasuke, the boy of practically every girl's fantasies. But not hers, she had no eyes for the boy. To her, he was too cool and distant for her liking. Though that half cocky smile that he gave every once in a while could be swoon worthy, she didn't dare think such unsettling thoughts.

Despite his irritation with the girl, he rubbed his head and responded in a very impassive way. "I'm alright." Then in a halfhearted attempt at being polite he looked her in the eyes and she trembled. "How about you Hyuuga-san?"

She lowered her gaze and twiddled her thumbs in that repetitive manner that she did in class all day. He had half a mind to just walk away and scoff like he normally would in his attempts in keeping his cool façades, but she spoke up just as he was about ready to give up on her.

"I'm alright," She said so softly that he wondered whether or not she actual spoke or if it was just a brush of the wind.

He leaned in closer.

And that was the moment, that in their childish innocence, that they met and literally – and figuratively – fell. In all their naiveté and aloofness, they met under that same Sakura tree till the petals dropped to the very bottom of that tree in autumn and then disappeared in a heavy blanket of snow in the winter.

Wrapped in her red shawl that covered her cold nipped lips, she dared to move closer to him as he trembled in the cold. Bringing herself so close to him that their hands were able to just catch each other and hold on tight. He never showed much in the way of emotion, but in that split second, something passed over his eyes. He looked sad and almost vulnerable.

"Wear this Sasuke," She offered. Unwrapping herself, she put the soft red fabric over his shoulders. They had lost all formalities long ago.

"You'll be cold," he said, keeping his eyes low on her.

She only shook her head and smiled. "I have a warm jacket on, so I'll be alright."

He didn't argue with her, he learned to not oppose anything she said. Not in fear of her wrath – Hinata had about as much of a threatening nerve as a tiny snowflake – but in caution of her fragility. She was like glass, so pretty and delicate to look at, but she was also transparent. Every emotion she was feeling would show and he wasn't sure that he wanted to see how ugly skewed her face was when she was irritated at him.

"You'll be leaving in the morning you said right?"

He nodded his head and leaned in closer.

"Don't be sad Hinata," he whispered just into her lips and he could feel as she trembled. "I'll be sure to come back one day."

"You will?" Hinata mouthed. Her breath sent out frosted air just into his mouth. He inhaled and found that it tasted like the mint tea his mother made during these times of the year.

"Of course," he said before brushing her lips.

Then he took her red shawl from around his neck and neatly wrapped it back around her so that she was sure to stay warm.

"Keep it with you," he said to her. "This way I'll know that it is you."

She nodded. And though she trusted his word, she couldn't help but let her tears slip. He felt bitter being the one to make her cry but it was how it was, and he'd rather be the one to make her cry than someone else. But she was so easily readable that even the biggest idiot in the world would have known exactly what she was feeling. And it unnerved him, because it was her compelling factor. Even though he was only nine years old, he knew that she was pretty. It didn't help that she was sweet, too.

And so even after they repeated their promise to meet at this very spot again one day enough times that the heavens would never forget, she had begun to cry the moment he turned away. When the snow falling had reached her knees, she then found the need to turn away herself. That one movement felt heavy and dragging. The snow weighed down her pink snow boots and soaked through her black stockings, making her legs wet and cold. But she wasn't shivering, because the red shawl was holding her tightly around the shoulders. She wouldn't freeze, even if she felt like she weighed a thousand worlds.

* * *

As time then flew and the Sakura bloomed, and flourished, and fell, and disappeared, then repeating its cycle – she grew. And he grew too. Every day, she would wake up and the first thing she did was pull on that old, red shawl around her shoulders. As she grew older, her family found it strange she had not yet thrown it out. In high school, her friends thought it strange that she would always take the long way home from school just so to pass by the lone Sakura tree at the edge of the road.

And even as she continued to come back during her years in University, she never forgot to wear her ragged red shawl tightly around herself. But even when she could never throw that practically antique article of clothing away, slowly, she began to forget why she continued to keep it. The echoing of a promise barely ever even made it into the subconscious of her dreams: only little Sakura petals that fell like fresh snow against the skin of two young children. But she could never see their faces.

One rainy night at the University, she ran under an archway for shelter. There she saw she wasn't alone and instead being the company to a boy around her age with spiked brown hair and tattoos on his face. He looked bewildered to her entrance, but even so tried crack an awkward joke that didn't sit well on the ears. Politely, she laughed anyways.

She never questioned this kindling feeling within herself. And she never questioned the pang of guilt that would sometimes occur when he'd lean to down to kiss her. She never understood why because it just simply felt different… and she couldn't explain why.

But around summer holidays, she decided it was time to bring him to her hometown. He had met her friends and had met her father and sister and cousin. They all took to him fairly nicely and they left her house smiling. She held his hand with pride and leaned her temple against the bone of his shoulder. She had always told him that he needed to eat a little more.

"Where are we going?" He asked in his husky voice.

"Nowhere in particular." She told him.

He let go of her hand, and wrapped an arm over her shoulder. HE had come to accept that there would always be that odd red shawl draping over her when they went out. It was odd in the high temperature heat, and on some days he would envy how she seemed closer to it than him, but in the end, he had accepted it.

Walking slowly down the path, they swayed together and he bent a head down to kiss the top of her head. She felt that odd twinge in her heart. And coming into view, was a large blooming Sakura tree. The petals all flew around in the summer wind, falling to the ground in piles. She let out a wistful sigh.

"Wow," he marveled.

She couldn't help but agree. They walked up to the side just under the blossoms. He had never seen a larger smile on her face.

"This was always my favorite place growing up." She said softly, "I would always come here."

And he felt special, because this sacred place of hers, he was now becoming a part of. Caught in his moment of boldness, he pulled her in closer, tilted her face up to his, and leaned in.

But she pulled away.

Her hand reached up, and she had pulled his hand away, turning so her back faced his. Her eyes were down cast as she left both of them in a confused state. Why had she done that? Unconsciously, she had gripped onto her red shawl, breath heavy and ragged. She was about ready to cry. Why?

She was about to turn around, to apologize and to explain. But there was no explanation she could come up with. Merely, she didn't want to. She couldn't kiss him, not here. Even when he came up behind her, and reassuringly put his hands on her shoulders, she wanted to pull away. She felt dirty and bitter with every stroke that he made.

"Are you alright?" he said. "Are you okay?"

She just wanted to tell him to leave. She wanted to tell him to go away. She wanted to tell him she didn't love him.

But she stopped herself, and she paused. Why? Why was she thinking such thoughts?

"Wow, such a beautiful tree!"

The voice was neither of theirs and so they both turned. A couple, young like them, holding hands. One was foreign with her sparkling green eyes; the other was native, in his authentic Hokkaido accent.

"Yes, it is," he said.

They seemed to stand there on the trail's path, admiring the flowers as they danced. But soon, the woman noticed the other two people standing under the branches.

"Oh," She peeped in surprise. "I think we've intruded on another lovers' moment!"

Realizing that the foreign woman was referring to the two of them, Hinata shook her head pulled herself away from his grasp.

"No – no," he said warily, "We were just leaving."

"Oh, well then," the foreign woman spoke, a smile rising on her face. She pulled the man she was with so that they were no longer on the road.

But as Hinata passed them, her eyes just made a glimpse upward to look at the native man. Suddenly, a torrent of emotions circled through her. There was a gripping in her heart when she bit down on her lip. He was caught in her eyes, and neither could seem to pull away. He let go of the foreign woman's hand, and now they lay limp at his sides.

"Hinata," he whispered.

"Sasuke," she whispered back.

And for a moment, they were taken back years to the night they had met in the frozen snow under the very same tree. Their hands were small, hair shorter, faces chubbier. And yet, they knew that this electric shock between them was not normal.

"You two know each other?" broke in a husky voice.

Hinata was pulled out of the trance first, her eyes losing some lavender sheen. She looked over to the man she had once said she loved, finding that under the light that filtered between the branches, she didn't seem to love him anymore.

"We are childhood friends," Sasuke said. And Hinata turned to look back at him, her heart tightening in pain. Childhood _friends_…

"Yes," Hinata agreed. "We knew each other a long time ago."

Her hands reached up to grip tightly onto her shawl, and Sasuke watched her, feeling like she had just reached into his own chest. It hurt.

"What's going on?" The foreign woman now joined in. Her arm wrapped into his, and he looked as though he were pulling away. He was leaning forward.

"I just happened to run into an old friend," Sasuke explained. "And we were just making plans to catch up."

There seemed to be bitterness in his last sentence. Perhaps because she knew that it wasn't true.

"Yes," Hinata agree meekly. Then turning to the foreign girl, she dipped her head. "Sasuke surely has found himself a lovely catch."

And he grimaced, only one that Hinata noticed.

"And Hinata," he decided to say, "is truly lucky to have found someone of her own."

It hurt more than Hinata could have ever imagined.

The two respective partners found themselves blushing, not expecting the compliments. But only for a moment for Hinata pulled him by the hand and onto the pathway. Suddenly, she found that all anger towards her boyfriend, had vanished.

"We'll meet up soon," Sasuke waved.

And she found it strange that he had given her such a sad smile, his hands again limp and vacant at his sides. The foreign woman stood to the side, blurred under the shadows on the tree.

"Of course," she smiled to him. Lies always taste bitter on the tongue. And at that moment, when she pulled on her boyfriend's hand, she swore she wouldn't come back.

She'd throw away this shawl, and she'd never return to this Sakura tree.

**The End**

****Meh... I sort of rushed the end. But even so =.= I need to get better at writing angst O.o

So here, it was just time. They were once again separated physically and just... time made it difficult to find their old love again. Under the Sakura tree they could, and with her red shawl they could, but without that, there was nothing. They had already moved on.

Please review if you can! I'd like to know what you think ^^


	3. An Art of Holding On

I woke up this morning feeling unexpectedly cheery, then unexpectedly bitter. I'm not sure where in the day I had made the turn... but hell, it got me to finish up this story that's been sitting on my phone for about half a year :P

WARNING: abuse (physical, mental, and sexual)

**An Art of Holding On**

It wasn't during the first time he'd seen her. It surely wasn't during the second. But that moment, he never thought he had taken much notice to her like he had that third time he saw her – alone. She had bent her head so low he thought she'd topple forward. And there would be that moment of hesitation where she would freeze mid air, maybe look him in the eye, and they would wait. The two of them would expect that he would catch her.

"Am I pretty?" She would ask him.

"Yes," he would tell her.

She wasn't. Not in his eyes. The way her hair fell so limply at her shoulders was dull. The way her eyes never could focus on one thing was distracting. The way her fingers twitched and fumbled was always annoying. And he never made the effort to tell a good lie. It would come out flat and unoriginal. She would ask again and again, and he would answer the same way again and again. She wasn't stupid, yet she chose not to show she knew he was lying.

"You should invite that other girl," she would tell him, "I think she would really suit you."

"Idiot," he'd respond. "Don't go deciding things on your own."

She always shied away when he tried holding hand. They were always so warm and shaking (it was because of the jacket he thought). With as much force as she could, she would try and slip them out. But he would grip tighter and tighter – to the point where they would turn red and throb. The protest and whining were endless; the pulling and tugging was tiresome. So instead, he would just squeeze harder till she yelped.

"Do you want some?" She offered.

"Get that shit away from me," he spat.

She hated it when he was too forward. Her face would scrunch and make the ugliest expression. It irritated him so he would threaten to bite her lips. Of course she acted as though she didn't believe him. Every time he leaned in and caught her lips, she started to hit him. But he was a man of his word and his lips would part, exposing his fang like teeth. He'd bite down. Then she would cry and he'd smile in triumph.

"You did well at the match." She said.

"Of course I did." He said.

Her father always wondered where she'd learn to lie so well. All those nights that she would go out late, dark into the snow – summer heat – rainy days… she was at _his_ door step when he wanted her to be. And that night, he had wanted to have her. Pushing her down on the sheets, she screeched. She didn't want it. But he had never asked if she did.

"I still don't hate you." She said the very next morning.

She still lay there fully clothed.

"Neither do I," he said.

It was like a game. Who could make the other break first? Who could stand to see the other for another day? And it grinded them, wore them down. It devoured them. It consumed them to the point where it was no longer a game. It was real, it was sadistic. The bruises, scratches, cuts, and scars – she hid them under thick wool sleeves, he didn't even make an attempt. Questions were asked, but questions soon learned to be ignored. And even the question askers, after a while, learned to just keep their mouths shut.

"What if I just left?" She said.

"What if I don't let you," he growled.

He shoved her against the wall. The picture frames rattled, the bed creaked. Her heart pounded against her ribs while his knee dug into her hip. She hissed as he came closer. Their noses touched.

It scared her sometimes, the way his eyes would reflect something red like a flame. It irked him most of the time, the way her eyes always seemed so clouded over like murky waters. But it was like an addiction. They knew it was bad. They knew it was terrible. They knew that it was destroying them both – and yet they could not stop.

Her fingers laced around his wrists. The nails trailed along some veins, over and over. He was welting but he resisted showing her pain. If he showed her, she had won. He started calling her names: weakling, useless, worthless… She held back the tears and she held down a sob. If she started to cry, she'd lose herself. And if she lost herself, he had won.

So he threw her onto the floor. She screamed as she landed. He hurdled himself at her and she rolled so that he couldn't catch her. She fumbled with the draws of his desk. She started to throw things at him. Paper, stencils, pens, pencils… he dodged some, was hit by many. She had good aim, even when she was frantic. He screamed at her.

He was angry. He was angry like his father, like his mother, like his goddamn older brother.

She was obsessive. She was obsessive like her father, like her sister, like her good for nothing older cousin. But she was not like her mother. Her mother let things go.

He was angry at her. She was obsessed with him. It was like a match made in hell and still they resisted the urge to just end it. It was an art really, this idea of holding on. Even when the ropes had all been cut, somehow they thought one would be left for them.

She was running out of things to throw. He was getting closer. He grabbed her. Something shattered. He was on the floor.

Her breathing was heavy and her eyes started to water. She couldn't see too well, as she tried to collect all the things she'd hurled around him room. There were splatters of blood in some places, nothing too big to wash out. There was something salty falling from her cheeks. Was she crying?

Her head turned back.

"Sasuke-kun…?" She whispered.

He didn't say anything back.

When the police cars came later that night, they had separated the two of them into different cars. He stared at her through his tinted window, she stared back.

It was a draw.

**Fin**

Short, dark, not dark enough... I can't really judge my own work ^^7 I'm not sure if this chapter should warrant a change in ratings O.o

Review if you can please, and I'll update as soon as possible!


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